3.20.2009

(muh-sheen-eh-mah)

While we're toiling away on power point decks, slim jims, and brand videos, other people are making movies from video game footage. Why, there's even an Academy for this!

Here's where you'll find the latest adventures of your favorite Gears of War or Call of Duty characters. Most aren't very good, but some aren't bad.

The point is, that by using gaming engines to 'control' characters and record their actions, it negates the need for individual animators to control every aspect of a characters development, using vast amounts of time in software rendering.

Rather, animators would build a movable character, and then, like a gamer, manipulate the character's movements and expressions through an external controller.

The animation isn't as high quality as Pixar productions, but as gaming engines get increasingly more complex and realistic in regards to environments and movements, Machinima seems like an interesting process to create potentially stunning and lower-cost CGI films.